Architecture, no matter how much it is praised by people and recognized by major awards, all achievements given by human beings are worthless if they are not blessed by nature. 

--The Anti-Architecture

The boundary between environment and architecture has always been a question that designers keep thinking about. By taking nature as a base, accepting the limitations of the site, and following the methods appropriate to the place to design the building, the result is a natural architecture rooted in the place. PARADERO TODOS SANTOS is a 12,000 square meter hotel located in the small town of Todos Santos on the Pacific coast of the Baja California peninsula in Mexico. Set against the backdrop of Mexico's Sierra La Laguna Mountains, just 20 minutes from the beach, while sitting in a stunning desert oasis of two-hundred-year-old barren cactus desert and thousands of vibrant palm trees, the Hotel Paradero is where it lives.

Nature: Desert, Wind, Water and Plants

In The Architecture of Nature, Kengo Kuma mentions, "If one can look thoroughly at the boundary between the natural and the artificial, envision all the risks faced by being in this place, and carefully redesign this boundary, nature will reveal vivid expressions that have never been shown before and come to us with vigor." It is by considering the natural elements of wind, water, plants and land, rooted in place and connected to place, that the design team of Hotel Paradiso has come up with a hotel that grows out of the land.

The building plan of Hotel Paradiso is trapezoidal, forming a relatively enclosed central courtyard and dry plant garden along the perimeter volume of the site. In contrast to the conventional design of buildings gathered inward facing the atrium garden, the hotel building faces the barren palm and the endless ecological farmland, allowing guests to experience nature more intuitively and guaranteeing an unobstructed view of the landscape.

The main body of the building is beige concrete that blends in with the surrounding terrain, reminiscent of the desert, a land in constant flux. To explore and highlight the effects of wind, the architectural team imagined every contour of its topography as if formed by desert gusts. The bottom of the building is dominated by curves, echoing the undulating mountains and the shifting desert. In a way, architecture loses to the terrain, to nature, in order to win eternity.

In addition to wind, water and rain, although uncommon in the desert, can change the texture and atmosphere of the entire space. The design team designed a water system that flows through the hotel like an oasis in the desert. This fantastic water brings coolness and auditory pleasure at the same time. The selection of plants took into account both visual appreciation as well as water sources and maintenance costs, so only plants unique to the area were used without excessive artificial intervention or water nourishment, respecting nature to reduce attrition while allowing guests to experience the charm of the desert in its most authentic form. In the design of the road surface, the designer team chose the softest sand in the region to pave the paths, encouraging visitors to cross the hotel barefoot and step on the soft ground to actually feel the land and the years under their feet.

Architecture: materials, space, furniture

The hotel architecture combines the outdoors and the indoors in a harmonious way. A total of 35 rooms are divided into three themes: Garden Suite, Rooftop Suite and Main Lodge. The guest rooms are designed within undulating concrete blocks with prominent facades, corridors and staircases hidden in projecting curved spaces. The beige concrete material used throughout is massive and structurally heavy, perhaps you will stop at its brutality and coldness, but approaching the space, the mottled traces and tiny particles give you enough cushion and rusticity, a material design that balances the natural environment and human emotions.

In the center of the courtyard, there is a fully open multi-functional space that creates a staggered effect through the ground height difference. Simple furniture, cushions, and hammocks provide casual gatherings and create a sense of community cohesion. Not far away is an infinity pool of over 40 meters and a crescent-shaped concrete lounge deck poured on site, with rectangular and triangular openings in the rear wall breaking up the wall's dullness and the choice of triangles as a sacred symbol of Mayan culture. There is also an open-air restaurant and spa, tucked between towering palm trees and low cactus and desert plants, and these communal spaces are designed with custom furniture that can be easily moved around to encourage socializing and sharing. The spaces are decorated with a more local flair, sculptural rocks and stones found in nature are incorporated directly into the décor of the public spaces, the immersive experience blurs the boundaries between indoors and out, and the location is generously chosen to allow guests to enjoy the unique views.

The interiors of the guest rooms, designed by designer Bibiana Huber, feature neutral colors, and the green of plants, the gray of the earth, and the brown of the mountains can be seen in the spaces, all echoing the nature of the outdoors. The simplicity and warmth of the concrete four walls, comfortable fabrics and selected greenery. In every detail, the designer offers guests a "luxury" experience that has less to do with materials and more to do with furnishings and details: woven blankets and duvets from Oaxaca, palm rugs from Jalisco, and lamps from a town near Guadalajara, the subtlety and warmth of these local handcrafted products neutralize the roughness and savagery of the concrete. The roughness and brutality of the concrete is neutralized by the subtlety and warmth of these indigenous handcrafted products. The bathroom's poured concrete sink and metal-rimmed mirror, where roughness and smoothness meet, reflect each other. The windows are protected by wooden grilles for privacy, while creating the freedom of an outdoor shower.

Everything about the design of the Paradiso Hotel references nature and approaches it, whether it is the building's silhouette and layout, or the furniture and colors of the space. The design team always looks at the whole building, the whole space. Because creating a harmonious building in the midst of nature is not only about the building as an appearance, but also as a presence, so that it can be timeless.

Article Source:艺术与设计

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